Sometimes it can be an advantage to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or in the case of the N.C. State football team, sandwiched between a pair of high-profile top-10 matchups on Florida State’s schedule.

Although there’s probably no good time to be playing the No. 3 Seminoles right now, especially in Tallahassee, coach Dave Doeren’s Wolfpack has drawn as good a week as possible to be faced with the challenge.

Not only is Saturday’s game nestled snugly into the natural lull between last week’s emotional 51-14 demolition of Atlantic Division frontrunner Clemson and next week’s rivalry showdown with unbeaten Miami, but it comes following a bye for State on a day in which the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback returns to the lineup for the first time since opening day.

If ever there was a classic example of a trap game, this is it.

The possibility of a letdown is so real, despite the lopsided 29½-point spread, that even Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher acknowledged the danger when asked about it earlier in the week.

“I think all games are trap games if you don’t prepare for them and I think you have to understand that,” Fisher said. “I mean, if you say it’s a trap game – because what the kids hear, it’s this game and this game you worry about.

FSU coach Jimbo Fisher

“Yes, there’s things that you have to look at, but it has nothing to do with N.C. State’s ability. It just has the national media’s focus that the other two teams (Clemson and Miami) are more highly ranked. Hopefully we’ll be mature enough to look past that and be able to prepare, because we know N.C. State will definitely be ready to play.”

Fisher means it when he says his 6-0 Seminoles aren’t going to take the 3-3 Wolfpack lightly. The memory of last year’s stunning 17-16 loss in Raleigh is still too fresh for that to happen again.

But regardless of how seriously FSU takes State, its emotion and focus can’t help but be at least a notch or two below what it was last week and promises to be next.

It’s only human nature.

The question is, even with the trap locked and fully loaded, does the Wolfpack have what it takes to spring it should the Seminoles leave themselves vulnerable by bringing something less than their “A” game?

“We can’t really worry about how they play as much as what we have to do to have a chance to win,” Doeren said, noting that the atmosphere at Doak Campbell Stadium should be raised at least somewhat by a pregame ceremony honoring former coach Bobby Bowden. “That’s where our focus has been.”

State couldn’t take advantage of the situation when it had Clemson on the ropes under similar circumstances coming off its first bye earlier this season.

In that game, back on Sept. 19, the Wolfpack’s defense played well enough to win, only to see its offense sputter until it was too late in a 26-14 home loss. The difference this time is that starting quarterback Brandon Mitchell is back in the lineup after missing nearly a month with a broken bone in his foot.

The Wolfpack will have its work cut out for it trying to stop Jameis Winston

What makes his return all the more intriguing is that because he played less than a quarter before getting hurt, FSU will have little to no tape from which to prepare for him.

Of course, all the preparation in the world might not make a difference against one of the nation’s top defenses, just as a solid game plan can only take a team so far when trying to stop a talent as gifted as Seminole quarterback Jameis Winston.

That’s the thing about trap games. As much of an opportunity as they present for an underdog such as N.C. State – or Wake Forest a little farther to the south at Miami – teams still have to go out and execute to make them work to their advantage.

Otherwise they’re nothing more than a minor nuisance between a rock and a hard place on somebody else’s schedule.